Corporate employees of Amazon were asked on Monday to volunteer their time to the company’s warehouses to assist with grocery delivery as it heads into its annual discount spree known as Prime Day.
In a Slack message reviewed by the Guardian that went to thousands of white-collar workers in the New York City area from engineers to marketers, an Amazon area manager called for corporate “volunteers to help us out with Prime Day to deliver to customers on our biggest days yet”. It is not clear how many took up the offer.
The manager said volunteers are “needed” to work Tuesday through Friday this week, in two-hour shifts between 10am and 6pm in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, where the company operates a warehouse as part of its grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh.
Sounds like they’re getting paid but I’m really hung up on the word “volunteer”. If I’m paid my regular wage and can fit it, really not a problem.
I run a ransomware recovery department at my company. We don’t staff the department beyond us three managers. When we get an IR, we ask for volunteers in the normal staff to work for us. They get 1.5x + $25/ hour and a $50/day Uber Eats credit for working 4 hours OT.
We get a lot of volunteers.
I doubt Amazon is doing anything like that. If they don’t get enough volunteers, I could see them switching to “volunteer or else.”
Oh, absolutely not. And I’m in the Seattle area. We get good workers, but the region is saturated by people who expect Amazon level pay… So, we do what we can.
Corporate people should spend some time periodically in the trenches anyway. Otherwise, they’re totally clueless about how everything works.
Yes, but not volunteered
It’s business hours Tue-Fri. Sounds like the volunteer isn’t for unpaid work, but for volunteering to do this instead of their normal duties for the week.
Tho I’m sure they’ll get dinged on their performance review if their regular work output reduces, so I’m guessing they will end up needing to put on unpaid hours to compensate.
I volunteer for stuff like this if it gets me out of meetings. I’ve donated over a gallon of blood at work.
volunteer to cover our glorious CEO’s wedding costs and be a part of history!
Technically he isn’t the CEO anymore. Doesn’t mean he isn’t still a cunt.
well lets settle on glorious founder and leader then
Yeah, fuck that guy.
agreed
Well if it’s voluntary and the staff gets paid their usual wage - one would assume a higher one than the warehouse folks get - I don’t really see the problem. It doesn’t make sense to try and hire folks for just a few days of peak workload. Not if you can manage it by shifting some folks around. Heck, I’m sure some will appreciate the change of scenery.
There are many other actual holidays a sufficient staff can handle busy days
If theres one thing we all know desk jockeys appreciate its the opportunity to do manual labor
Well not everyone, obviously. But that’s why it’s voluntary.
I’ve certainly done stuff that’s outside of the scope of my personal job. Our company owner actually scrubs the toilets in our building and that guy owns an actual yacht 🤷♂️
It’s voluntary but somehow gets taken into account when promotion or pay raise is discussed.
Yes in theory but no in practice. Another way of putting this is “will they appreciate your extra 10%” and the answer is always no.
Daily reminder that the only way to beat inflation is to get another job somewhere else. If you’re staying long enough for this to matter, then you’re leaving money on the table.
That’s until the Amazon robots take the jobs and staff are downsized https://www.wsj.com/tech/amazon-warehouse-robots-automation-942b814f
Is Amazon too poor to pay their employees now?
Well did you see that wedding? That shit don’t pay for itself.
I remember when, on heavy days and holidays, you’d get bonuses. Fuck Amazon
I’m sorry, are you not a multi-billion-dollar company dominating the global markets? Are you suddenly confused and thinking you’re running a charity that requires regular donations? Are your 99% tax exemptions not enough to cover your bases? What world do you think you’re living in?
Sure. But have you considered that line must go up?
I thought we were boycotting bezos? Why are people still buying on Amazon?
Because we are in the smallest minority of people that care enough to change our shopping habits or willingly pay more for something to avoid Amazon.
I know literally nobody in real life that shares my views and most will think I’m a weirdo for being so vocal about avoiding certain companies, taking part in boycotts, or protesting.
I’d love to boycott Amazon, but we rely on them for food deliveries. Instead, I like to order things individually throughout the day. I don’t wait and collect orders, and send them at once, I send them as I think of them. That way each order is billed separately, making each order as expensive as possible, wasting just a bit of Bezos’ profit, and making sure his employees are working and getting paid.
Relying on amazon for food deliveries? Thats the dumbest shit I ever heard
There are some situations where you gotta do what you gotta do.
The dumbest shit is thinking that everyone has the same access to food as you do. Not everybody has a grocery store nearby, or a way to get to it.
And relying on Amazon food delivery is still the worst and dumbest shit you could ever do. You’re literally ordering individual food items throughout the day from them, what is wrong with you lmao. Furthermore you are enriching Amazon not the opposite like you tried to claim.
You don’t know what you are talking about. The selection is far better than the little grocery that’s near me, and the prices are far lower. In addition, it gets delivered directly to my house, they even bring the order in and leave it in the kitchen, so I don’t have to carry it home.
And who said I’m making individual orders throughout the day? Is that how you buy groceries? Whenever you need an individual item, you run to the grocery store for it? THAT’S the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. I do what most people do, and make a list of things I need, and when it gets long enough, or reaches my budget, I place the order. I do often order non-food things individually from Amazon, just to make them pay extra for shipping. I get free shipping, so that comes out of Bezos’ pocket.
As for making Amazon richer? Yeah, I get it, but I’m not ready to go out and hunt down my own food on a daily basis - in one of the biggest cities on the planet. I have to actually BUY my groceries, and almost every option is enriching some massive evil corporation. But that’s life, my family has to eat. Basic survival before activism.
Better selection, lower prices, convenient delivery - so tell me again why this the dumbest shit you’ve ever heard of? Or are you just running your mouth without a clue of what you’re talking about?
Any time a corporation uses the term “volunteer”, something very fishy is likely going on.
Look at all these volunteers! Why should I pay people?
Would somebody please think of the billionaires!?
Sorry, I was distracted be the profits.
Arrr! The profits do be!
What kind of brainwashed loser would fall for this
Well we currently share this country with people that voted three times for the Trump regime. I’m just saying we don’t currently have a dearth of incredibly stupid people.
Plenty. If you’ve ever worked retail you’d know the answer to this question. the “lifers” will volunteer. You know the types if you’ve worked in retail. They’ll do it thinking it’ll look good to some upper manager and allow them to get promoted for simply showing loyalty to the company. The ones who believe and tell you constantly how the company can do no wrong, how great it is to work for said company, and how the company has their best interests in mind.
When you’re stuck working at a desk all day, every day, forever, suddenly spending a day or two checking out a big ol’ warehouse sounds pretty fun. You’re still getting paid a white collar salary and benefits, and you don’t have to worry about grinding your bones down and all that because it’s only a few days, not decades of backbreaking g work.
You’re still getting paid a white collar salary and benefits
That’s not generally what “volunteer” means. From the article,
Amazon office workers in New York requested to donate time over to Fresh delivery process during firm’s busiest time.
Your quote is from the sub-headline, which was probably written by an editor if not AI. I wouldn’t put too much trust in it without supporting details. To the contrary, the detail about being able to step into a conference room to take work calls implies that they are expected to stay connected to their normal job and not bill it as vacation/time off.
The way it works in my company (not Amazon) is that office workers will occasionally be given “volunteer” opportunities to help with a temporary workload crunch and these will be paid at your normal salary. Sometimes it’s a good deal to get a break from routine, show the boss you’re a team player, and pad out weak progress on yearly goals. Other times it may require uncomfortable work and prolonged absence from home (without overtime pay). But they’re upfront about it and participation is truly voluntary.
But then who will have a meeting and capture the action item to have another meeting afterwards?!
Does anyone actually care about Prime Day? Isn’t it a bunch of cheap crap that’s marked up then “down”?
4K 34-inch OLED Alienware monitor for $550 on Prime Day. Originally $1100. Only thing I care for.
They do that to a degree but its uaully still discounted, just not as much as you think. I work in a store that price matches amazon and we had to resticker 20 times as many products as on a normal day.
A lot of it is, with a few discounts. I’ve never found anything useful in it though.
It’s their e-waste dumping day.
Guys we don’t have enough delivery drivers for the holidays. Come on down and “volunteer” or you might just find yourself passed over for future promotions. You might think differently but you’re just a disposable peon. The night of the delivery you might feel a slight sting. That’s pride fuckin’ with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts. It never helps. You fight through that shit.
Lol promotions. Sure boss, be right there. Wait for me.
“Promotion” means “not being fired”.
